Local Government Finance

I will come to that, but the point I am trying to make is that this situation is urgent. Council tax payers will end up with council tax bill increases every year even though services are being reduced—that already occurs, but the extent of it will be more extreme. On the kind of extrapolations that the IFS has produced, there will be massive increases in council tax in return for massive cuts in local services. That will test the local government finance arrangements to breaking point. We already have a system of gearing, which means that 75 per cent. of what councils spend is funded through central Government grants. That makes things difficult, but the situation will get harder.